University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA)

A.A.S., in Electronic Engineering Technology; B.F.A., in Film, Syracuse University; M.A., in Educational Media, Appalachian State University. Has taught film and animation courses at the North Carolina School of the Arts since 1999. Associate of the CDI (Center for Design Innovation). Member of the International Association of Animators (ASIFA), Puppeteers of America, and the Puppetry Guild of the Carolinas.

BA in Industrial Design, Purdue University; BFA in Computer Animation, Ringling School of Art and Design

Stephen Baker is an award-winning animator and animation director who has been bringing characters and stories to life for over sixteen years now. After three months of incessant nagging during that fateful summer of 1977, his mother finally broke down and took him to see STAR WARS… and the rest was history. With dreams of designing whole new worlds for film, he packed his Toyota Celica to the gills and headed west. After three months (there it is again!) of banging on doors and sleeping on floors, he somehow ended up in the Northeast instead and proceeded to design the next best thing for six years – toys!

Not willing to allow this small detour to set things back too far, he headed south to Florida and Ringling School of Art and Design. He drove back out to California two summers in a row for internships and was very happy when his first job out of (second) school agreed to fly him out and ship his beloved Celica this time. His first project was animating the character of Joe on MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, and it was his extreme pleasure to meet and actually work with one of his boyhood idols; Ray Harryhausen! Joe was nominated for the 1998 Academy Award for Visual Effects and it was disappointing when it didn’t win. Working on other Academy Award-nominated and -winning films such as STUART LITTLE, HOLLOW MAN, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE, STAR TREK, HUGO, and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTMAN over the years has eased that early disappointment somewhat though.

He has worked on several Visual Effects Society award winning films, games, and television shows as well including MEN IN BLACK II, STUART LITTLE II, HALF-LIFE 2, HALO 3, PUSHING DAISIES – Pilot Episode, EAGLE EYE, VALKYRIE, STAR TREK, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, G-FORCE, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, TERRA NOVA, and HUGO.

Stephen once vowed to NEVER make the cross-country death drive again, but fin

Thomas Ackerman is best known for his work as director of photography in feature motion pictures with more than 35 theatrical films to his credit, including iconic titles such as BEETLEJUICE, JUMANJI, and THE LEGEND OF RON BURGANDY. Mr. Ackerman is also widely experienced in commercial, music video and documentary film production. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, the International Cinematographers Guild, the Directors Guild of America, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

B.A., Columbia College-Hollywood; B.A., University of Connecticut; Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Columbia College-Hollywood. Previous teaching experience includes nine years at Columbia College-Hollywood. He served as president of the school from 1994-1995. He has worked professionally as a motion picture camera assistant and camera operator for film, television, music videos and commercials. His credits include the television series THE WONDER YEARS, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION and GABRIEL’S FIRE; music videos for The Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers; commercials for McDonalds, Life Savers and more. He has served as Assistant Dean of the School of Filmmaking since 2004. Mr. Elkins is the author of two of the basic textbooks for camera personnel: “The Camera Assistant’s Manual,” now in its fifth edition, and “Camera Terms and Concepts,” published by Focal Press. He is an active member of the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600 and Society of Camera Operators.

Trained as a Cinematographer for over two decades, John has shot with some of the top named directors on feature films, music videos and commercials. He has won a prestigious Golden Lion award in Cannes for his AT&T International campaign. His feature credits include ANGEL TOWN, STRIPPED TO KILL, PERSONAL FOUL, THE OUTSIDER, TRUTH OR DARE and COCOON. In addition to numerous commercial credits, John also has music video credits including “Kiss” (Prince), “Eternity” (Sheena Easton), and “The Right Stuff” (Vanessa Williams).

B.A., M.A. in Film Production and Film History/Criticism, Penn State University; Ph.D. in Cinema Studies, New York University. Has taught film history, theory, and analysis at Penn State, Emerson College, The European Institute for International Communication, and New York University. Chair of UNCSA Educational Policies Committee since 2000. President of the Winston-Salem Cinema Society from 2001 to 2007. Serves as editorial assistant on the academic journal The Hitchcock Annual (since 2002). Publications include The Modernist Poetics and Experimental Film Practice of Maya Deren (Edwin Mellen Press, 2002); “Relevant Theory for Documentary Film,” CILECT News No. 42 (May 2005); and “Who’s Your Dada? The Marx Brothers at Paramount,” in A Century of the Marx Brothers, ed. Joseph Mills (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007).

B.A., Brandeis University; Master of Science in Communications, San Jose State University. Dale M. Pollock produced 13 feature films, including SET IT OFF, MRS. WINTERBOURNE, HOUSE OF CARDS, A MIDNIGHT CLEAR, THE BEAST and BLAZE. His films have received multiple Academy Award nominations and have won several film festivals. He was chief film critic for Daily Variety, chief film reporter for the Los Angeles Times (where he was a Pulitzer Prize nominee), and author of “Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas.” He has also published academic articles on directors Billy Wilder and John Huston. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America, and currently reviews films on both TV and radio. He is a frequent speaker at film festivals and film conferences.

B.A., Communications: Broadcasting and Film from UNC-Greensboro; Film Preservation Certification from the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at the George Eastman House Museum of Photography and Film. Senior Curator for the Moving Image Archives. Has managed or directed the exhibition component for the Gala Opening of the School of Filmmaking, the 52nd Annual University Film and Video Association Conference, Cinethics: National Conference on Ethics, and the RiverRun International Film Festival. A member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

M.A., Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary; M.F.A., Hungarian University of Drama and Film Art, Budapest, Hungary; Fulbright Scholar. Theatrical features as director, writer and co-writer include: CHA-CHA-CHA, RIGHT MAN FOR A DELICATE MISSION. Deputy managing director, MAFILM. Prior his current position he served for 12 years as first assistant professor at his alma mater, the Hungarian University of Drama and Film Art

Patrick Read Johnson was born on May 7th, 1962, and, again, on May 7th, 1968, while watching Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: a space odyssey”. His subsequent years as a Super-8 filmmaking teen with too much ambition, too little supervision, and unfettered access to power tools and flammable liquids, might been worse on his family and friends, but for an unlikely series of events that propelled him from tiny Wadsworth, Illinois to Hollywood, California, in the spring of 1977, when an unknown film called “Star Wars” was just finishing up post-production. Watching the unfinished work-print at the visual effects facility for Lucas’ epic, along with a chance meeting, the next day, with Steven Spielberg, on the set “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” convinced Johnson to pack up his Ford Pinto and head for L.A., where he quickly landed a job as a model maker at a local visual effects facility. A year later, at the age of 19, he sold his first screenplay to 20th Century Fox and, for the next 7 years, lived the dual identity of occasionally-working Screenwriter/constantly-working Visual Effects Artist.

Finally, in 1988, he co-wrote the script “Martians!!!” which was produced the next year under Johnson’s direction. The 2 million dollar film so impressed Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy that the director/producer duo helped arrange for its theatrical distribution through Touchstone Pictures, which released the work in 1990 as “Spaced Invaders”. It also garnered Johnson a first look Directing/Writing/Producing deal with Universal Studios. One of the first projects to go into development, in partnership with screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue, was “Dragonheart”, starring Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery.

Johnson’s feature and television motion picture directing credits include: “Spaced Invaders” (Touchstone, 1990), “Baby’s Day Out” (20th Century Fox, 1994) and “Angus” (Turner Pictures, 1995), “When Good Ghouls go Bad” (Fox Television), starring Christopher Lloyd, and the upcoming

Tim McCann has directed eight independent feature films, including Desolation Angels (presented by Jonathan Demme and Barbet Schroeder), Revolution #9, Runaway and White Rabbit, and has won a variety of international awards, including the International Critics Prize at the Toronto Film Festival, the Merchant Ivory

Kodak Award at the Telluride Film Festival, and Critic’s Choice at Rotterdam. Variety claimed “McCann’s instinctive camera-eye burnishes nearly every exchange with a Cassavetes dynamism”. He has also worked as a screenwriter and cinematographer, and has guest lectured at Boston University, Cornell University, Ithaca College, The New School, Montclair and others, and was recently head of the Film Program at Purchase College, S.U.N.Y.

Supervising sound editor, recording engineer and facility designer. Feature film credits include TRAFFIC, OCEAN’S 11, MONSTERS INC and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. TV credits include THE BIG EASY, RYAN CAULFIELD and THE SIMPSONS. An electrical engineering background, which began at Louisiana State University, has given Mr. Gallagher a technical perspective regarding audio. He has also worked in acoustic design, as well as other technical aspects of sound. Mr. Gallagher designed and operated a recording studio in New Orleans for more than 20 years, where he garnered five Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award and multiple gold records. He also designed and operated two film sound post facilities. Member of the Audio Engineering Society and National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. A Certified Level-One THX technician.

Julian Semilian began his Hollywood career in 1975. There he edited 16 feature films and movies-of-the-week. His personal enthusiasm for avant-garde and experimental filmmaking is expressed in two recently completed films: DEVOTEES OF THE PRECIPITATE (Abstracta International Film Festival, Rome, Italy 2010) and TEAR VOID INSOMNIA MIST (opening feature, International Xperimental Film & Animation Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2007). As a 2008 recipient of the Kenan Institute for the Arts’ BREATHE Grant, Mr. Semilian met with three filmmaker-artists who have provided him with continuing inspiration: Brothers Quay and Jan Svankmajer.

Mr. Semilian’s poems, translations, and essays have appeared in such literary journals as Arshile, Exquisite Corpse, Suitcase, Word Letter, Callaloo, Syllogism, Talisman and Cinema Editor. His published poetry and novels include “Transgender Organ Grinder,” “A Spy in Amnesia,” and “Osiris with a Trombone Across the Seam of Insubstance.” His translations of Romanian poetry and literature include “Romanian Poems of Paul Celan,” “Mircea Cartarescu’s ‘Nostalgia,’” and “Gherasim Luca’s ‘The Inventor of Love and Other Writings.’”

Julian Semilian brings his unique, trans-disciplinary perspectives to the classroom, where future editors can experience a forum encouraging exploration, creativity, and attention to detail and tonality.

Wade Wilson is a world-class motion picture sound designer. He began his professional entertainment career in 1988 as an actor on an NBC movie of the week. He did several other projects as an actor, but in 1991 Wade focused his efforts on his musical talents and began doing session work as a drummer for a well-known Los Angeles music producer. He worked for the likes of Dave Navarro, NIN, Warrant, Dr. Dre, and others. In 1997 he made a transition into sound for film and began editing sound effects for THE SIMPSONS. Wade migrated from television into the feature film realm in 1999 as a SFX Designer. His first feature film assignment was, THE PERFECT STORM, and his design work earned an Academy Award nomination for best sound. He has gone on to design sound for 40 films, including, SHREK, MADAGASCAR, ELF, MYSTIC RIVER, SHARK TALE, THE HUNGER GAMES, and many others. He has six Golden Reel awards for his creative sound work. Wade has been written up in more than two-dozen feature articles for magazines such as, MIX, AUDIO TECHNOLOGY, SURROUND PROFESSIONAL, HARMON PRO, and others. Wade has made NC his home base since 2008, has served on the film commission since 2010, and is thrilled to be a facilitator of film industry growth in NC.

Composer of music for film, television, video games, theatre, sacred music, and concert music, holds a B.M. in Music Composition from Florida State University (2007) and an M.F.A. in Film Music Composition from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (2009). While a graduate student at UNCSA, Chris studied with David McHugh, and frequently assisted UNCSA Chancellor John Mauceri with several projects for major symphony orchestras, including the Radio Symphony of Vienna, North Carolina Symphony, and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Chris was awarded the 2009 ASCAP Fellowship for Composition & Film Scoring at the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied with Marco Beltrami. He has also composed music for Danny Elfman. Recent credits include the acclaimed video game, RED DEAD REDEMPTION (2010), and the award-winning short, THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN (2010). Chris is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Music Composition at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a member of ASCAP.

Susan Ruskin is a producer and executive who began her film career in development for George Lucas’ LucasFilm. She was head of development for Robert Stigwood at RSO before she went on to associate produce WOMAN IN RED for Orion and Gene Wilder. She then became President of Production for Pal-Mel Productions. She also produced HAUNTED HONEYMOON with Gilda Radner, Gene Wilder and Jonathan Pryce. As head of production, Susan worked on the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder movie SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, and ANOTHER YOU among others. Ruskin went on to become President of Production for Middle Fork making ANACONDA for Columbia Pictures starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson and Jon Voight. VACUUMS — a movie directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas ( the creators of the hit show STOMP) — starring Kip Pardue, Lee Evans and Rose McGowan. Ruskin also oversaw the production for the documentary, GOOD ROCKIN’ TONIGHT with Middle Fork Productions and The Shooting Gallery for American Masters among others. Susan Ruskin was associated with a group of writers and directors at Western Sandblast where she is producing several projects in various stages of development. Ruskin sold a script she adapted to Enigma Productions, A GRACIOUS PLENTY, based on the book by Sheri Reynolds, and she is developing a screenplay with the director Andy Fickman (SHE’S THE MAN, ANOTHER YOU, PARENTAL GUIDANCE). She has also been on the board of the Fountainhead Theatre company where she directed two one-act plays, and served on the nominating committee for the 43rd NAACP foreign film award. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from New York University/Gallatin.

Director/Producer Bob Gosse graduated from the prestigious Film Program at SUNY Purchase in 1986. He began his professional career collaborating with his cousin Hal Hartley on shorts and two feature films, THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH (1988) and TRUST (1990). After this, Mr. Gosse started the lauded indie film company The Shooting Gallery in 1991 with a handful of local filmmakers including Michael Almereyda, Nick Gomez and Whitney Ransick.

Mr. Gosse produced the first film out of The Shooting Gallery, LAWS OF GRAVITY (1992), which went on to a worldwide theatrical release and rave reviews. That same year he produced director Michael Almeryda’s pixelvision feature ANOTHER GIRL, ANOTHER PLANET, which won the National Film Critics Award for Best Experimental Feature. Continuing his efforts as creative director at The Shooting Gallery, Mr. Gosse produced the crime drama HANDGUN (1993) with Treat Williams for director Whitey Ransick, and followed this with collaboration with Spike Lee to produce NEW JERSEY DRIVE (1995) with LAWS OF GRAVITY director Nick Gomez. Deciding to direct was a natural next step, and Mr. Gosse got the job to direct THE LAST HOME RUN (1996) for the Shooting Gallery. After the release of that film, he was to direct the acclaimed NIAGARA, NIAGARA (1998) which was lauded at the Venice International Film Festival in 1997 and won the distinguished Volpi Cup for leading actress Robin Tunney. Mr. Gosse continued developing features for the Shooting Gallery including Billy Bob Thornton’s acclaimed SLINGBLADE (1997) as well as Kenneth Lonigan’s YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000). In 2000, Mr. Gosse adapted Wendy Hammond’s play “Julie Johnson” into a feature film starring Lilli Taylor, Courtney Love and the late Spaulding Gray.

With the dot com collapse of Shooting Gallery in late 2001, Mr. Gosse turned back to producing films and screenwriting with Tim McCann’s RUNAWAY (2004), Michael Almereyda’s TONIGHT AT NOON (2006) and Carl Evan’s FRAME OF MIND (2007).

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Ms. Vilchik is a film producer and production attorney specializing in independent film finance as well as production. In 1998, she started her own company, Tonic Films, LLC, which is based out of Los Angeles. At the helm of Tonic Films, Ms. Vilchik has produced 10 feature films, including the 2003 venerated horror hit CABIN FEVER, purchased by Lionsgate in one of the largest bidding wars in the history of the Toronto Film Festival. Produced for a meager $1.5 million, CABIN FEVER has reached a total gross profit to date of more than $70 million. In addition to CABIN FEVER, which was nominated for a 2004 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, Ms. Vilchik produced a string of other critically acclaimed and award-winning independent films which garnered her a nomination for the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards Producer’s Award for outstanding achievement for a body of work. Ms. Vilchik was also honored with the distinction of being named one of Variety’s Top 10 Producers to Watch, announced at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Ms. Vilchik’s most recently released projects include BORDERLAND, produced in conjunction with Lionsgate. BORDERLAND was released theatrically in the United States and around the world and was called a “brutally suspenseful crime drama” (Variety) that “mixes the dramatic aspects of a true crime story with elements indicative of modern horror cinema to great triumph” (Bloody Disgusting). CABIN FEVER 2: SPRING FEVER, the long-awaited sequel – which some critics are touting as “better than the first” (Killer Film) was released by Lionsgate on Feb. 16, 2010. Ms. Vilchik is in development on DEATH ANGEL’S SHADOW, featuring dark-fantasy legend Karl Edward Wagner’s immortal anti-hero, KANE. Ms. Vilchik acquired DEATH ANGEL’S SHADOW, a collection of three Wagner short stories, and will produce the film based upon “Reflections for the Winter of My Soul,” which is the first of three short stories comprising the book. The other two short stories, “Cold Light” and “M

Member of Local 876, Art Director’s Guild in Los Angeles. Has worked as production designer, art director and set decorator on a variety of film and television projects. As production designer: MARY JANE’S LAST DANCE, BRUNO, AMBUSHED, SHADRACH, STEPHEN KING’S THE NIGHT FLIER. As art director: KISS THE GIRLS, THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD; BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA, RUBY IN PARADISE, BLANK CHECK and STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND (Emmy nomination, Best Art Direction).

With a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the N.C. State University School of Design, Ms. Wood, a native North Carolinian, started off her career in New York with Jim Sant’ Andrea Productions. She art-directed and designed sets in Manhattan for such companies as IBM, American Express, TWA, Nissan, Isuzu, Mattel and Toyota.

From New York, her career led to Los Angeles where she began a career as an illustrator in the film business. Her first job at MCA/Universal named Ms. Wood as associate producer and earned her Directors Guild of American card directing stunts and second unit. With more than 25 Hollywood productions as art director and production designer (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 800 & IATSE Local 790) under her belt including BEACHES, PRETTY WOMAN, BACKDRAFT, MR. SATURDAY NIGHT, HEAT, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU and HONEY, WE SHRUNK OURSELVES, Ms. Wood’s artistic visions clearly raise the bar in the world of environmental design.

Recently, Ms. Wood designed and art-directed themed and interior environments for the Warner Bros. Movie World at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi with Thinkwell’s theme-park division in Los Angeles. Her responsibilities included collaborating with architectural firms in designing themed and hospitality environments. Another project she is currently working on is a back-lot design for Raleigh & Celtic Studios, Baton Rouge, LA

Mary Ann Zotto has a dedicated career in studio art as a painter. She has a bachelor’s degree in drawing and painting from North Texas State University, a master’s degree in painting and weaving from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Fine Arts in papermaking and painting from East Carolina University.

Ms. Zotto’s paintings can be seen in Ron Howard’s film PARENTHOOD and the film HOUSE OF CARDS starring Kathleen Turner. Her work has been placed in the U.S. Department of State Art Bank Project, the state of North Carolina Permanent Art Collection, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Mint Museum in Charlotte and the Wake Forest University Permanent Art Collection. Her art has been collected for corporate collections for Wachovia and other companies and is on display at the IBM headquarters in Germany, the Kimberly-Clark national headquarters, the Sealy national headquarters, the Burroughs national headquarters and the McKinney & Sliver headquarters.

Ms. Zotto has taught at Wake Forest University, East Carolina University, Penland School of Crafts and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms. Zotto has been awarded residencies as a visiting artist for the North Carolina Arts Council. She was also selected to participate in the 50th Anniversary Weeklong Retreat sponsored by National Endowment for the Arts Grant and the North Carolina Arts Council. She has taught workshops for the Tougaloo Art Colony. Her studios have been in Fort Worth, Texas; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Woodstock, N.Y.; and now in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Bob Keen has worked in the film and television industry for over 35 years and has been involved in hundreds of productions. He has directed 8 films and numerous commercials and has been Second Unit Director or Effects Director on over 30 projects.

Mr. Keen ran his own publicly listed Special Effects company, Image Animation plc, from Pinewood Studios, England, for 23 years with international branches in Los Angeles and Toronto. He continues to be a consultant and advisor to such companies as Sony Interactive Europe, the London Film Museum, Medient Corp. India, Thorpe Park (Tussaud Group), Cineaqua Paris, and EA Games.

Some of the films he has worked on include: DOG SOLDIERS, RONIN, EVENT HORIZON, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, CHILDREN OF THE CORN II, CANDYMAN, HARDWARE, NIGHTBREED, WAXWORK, THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, HELLRAISER, HIGHLANDER, ALIENS, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, LIFEFORCE, THE NEVER ENDING STORY, RETURN OF THE JEDI, THE DARK CRYSTAL, THE KEEP, MEANING OF LIFE, BRITANNIA HOSPITAL, OUTLAND, TIME BANDITS, THE SHINING, FLASH GORDON, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, ALIEN, MOONRAKER, SUPERMAN, AND THE MEDUSA TOUCH.

Bob has worked for some of the greatest directors including: Clive Barker, Bernard Rose, Russell Mulcahy, Ken Russell, James Cameron, Frank Oz, Tobe Hooper, Wolfgang Petersen, Jim Henson, Michael Mann, Terry Gilliam, Lindsay Anderson, Ridley Scott, Richard Donner and Stanley Kubrick.

Author of the book “Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV” based on her lectures while teaching in the MFA screenwriting program at AFI, Cooper has spent more than twenty years as a creative executive working as the network liaison between producers, directors and writers on dozens of television shows.

Cooper began her career as a free-lance story consultant for HBO and later became the head of NBC’s Story Department. Cooper was then promoted to Director of NBC’s Prime Time Dramas working on shows such as L.A. LAW and QUANTUM LEAP before becoming Vice President of Scripps Howard Productions. Cooper then joined ABC as Sr. Vice President of ABC Daytime overseeing storylines for shows like GENERAL HOSPITAL and ALL MY CHILDREN and continued worked as a story consultant for that network after joining the faculty of UNCSA. She currently free-lances as a story consultant on feature and television projects.

B.A., M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Cornell University. Screenwriting credits include LIGHTSHIP, WALK ON THE MOON, CALDO LARGO and FIG TREE JOHN. Has had selected publications in “Westbere Review,” “Antaeus” and “Epoch.” Has taught writing at Ithaca College, St. Clare’s Hall, Cornell University and for the Peace Corps.

Member of the founding faculty at the School of Filmmaking. BA, Lifetime Teaching Credential and graduate coursework, University of California, Los Angeles. Recipient of Writer’s Guild of America, East Foundation Fellowship Grant for an original screenplay. MFA in Creative Writing, Queens University of Charlotte. Numerous screenplays. Writer of One in Eight. Writer and co-producer of feature documentary, InBroad Daylight. Writer of stage adaptation of The Land Breakers by John Ehle.

B.A., Illinois State University. Twelve years experience teaching at Merritt College; founded the Oakland Ensemble Theatre. As a writer and director of the stage, has mounted projects at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The National Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina, and the Henry Street Settlement and AMAS theatres in New York. For the last 10 years, has been a producer and writer for television and film. Film credits include: HOODLUM, SISTER ACT 2, THE CEMETERY CLUB, DEEP COVER, A RAGE IN HARLEM, FUNNY VALENTINES, SPLIT SECOND and AMERICA’S DREAM. Numerous awards include NAACP Image Award, Cable Ace Award, Audelco Award, NACCA nomination, and a Bay Area Critic’s Circle Award.

B.A. in Music Theory and Composition, Cornell University; M.F.A. in Theatrical Production, Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Grillo joined the North Carolina School of the Arts (now the University of North Carolina School of the Arts) in 1983. He has spent the majority of his career at UNCSA on the faculty of the School of Design & Production, where he served as an Assistant Dean and the Director of the Graduate Program. He was instrumental in helping achieve national recognition and commendation for that school’s formidable undergraduate and graduate programs and in growing the school’s enrollment from under 70 to over 200 students. As an instructor, he taught extensively in the technical training program, which he directed for over fifteen years. In 2004, he was awarded both the NCSA Faculty Teaching Award and the UNC Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. With over thirty years of teaching in higher education, he has offered comprehensive courses on graphic communication, project management, structural design, leadership development, theatre technology, and theatrical design.

In recent years, Mr. Grillo has led the faculty development effort at UNCSA, assisting faculty with their transition from the professional world to the world of education. As the Director of the Faculty Enrichment Center, he focused his attention on the use of technology in the teaching of artists, and was a staunch supporter of the institution’s efforts to redesign its courses in response to 21st century teaching and learning sensibilities.

Mr. Grillo has served as technical director and/or lighting designer for a number of residential performing companies including the University of Evansville, Carnegie Mellon Theatre Company, Cornell University Theatre, Ithaca Summer Repertory, the Hangar Theatre, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, National Black Theatre Festival, and the Winston-Salem Little Theatre. In film and television he has undertaken construction and techn